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Heathers
Heathers is a 1988 American black comedy film, directed by Michael Lehmann, starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. The film was released in the United States on March 31, 1989 by New World Pictures. Plot The most dominant clique at Westerburg High School consists of three wealthy and beautiful girls named Heather: the leader, Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), the bookish bulimic Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), and the weak-willed cheerleader Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). Though they are the most popular students, the Heathers are both feared and hated. They recently invited 17-year-old Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) to join their group, by association making her a very popular girl as well. However, as the film begins, Veronica has had enough of their behavior and longs to return to her old life and her nerdy friends. At school, a rebellious outsider named Jason "J.D." Dean (Christian Slater) pulls a gun on school bullies Kurt Kelly (Lance Fenton) and Ram Sweeney (Patrick Labyorteaux) and fires blanks at them. Veronica finds herself fascinated by this dark and quirky newcomer. When Veronica embarrasses Heather Chandler at a frat party by refusing sex and vomiting, Heather vows to destroy her reputation. Later, J.D. shows up at Veronica's house and they end up having sex after an impromptu game of strip croquet. Veronica tells J.D. she wants to make Heather puke her guts out. The next morning, Veronica and J.D. break into Heather's house. J.D. serves Heather a liquid he claims is a hangover cure but is actually drain cleaner, killing her. Although initially shaken by their act, J.D. regains his composure and urges Veronica to forge a dramatic suicide note in Heather's handwriting. The school and community look on Heather's apparent suicide as a tragic decision made by a popular but troubled teenager. Several days later, Kurt and Ram spread a rumor about Veronica giving them oral sex at the same time. To get even, J.D. proposes that Veronica lure them into the woods with the promise to "make the rumors true", then shoot them with what he promises are nonfatal "Ich lüge" (which means "I'm Lying" in German) German bullets that only break the skin but do no real damage. Afterwards they would humiliate Kurt and Ram by writing a fake suicide note explaining that the two were secret lovers, and planting "gay" materials, such as a Joan Crawford photo, mascara, and mineral water, alongside their unconscious bodies. At the rendezvous in the woods, J.D. shoots Ram but Veronica misses Kurt, who runs away. Seeing Ram dead on the ground, Veronica realizes that the bullets are real after all. J.D. chases Kurt back towards Veronica, who panics and shoots him dead. J.D. plants the "gay" materials and suicide note beside the boys.. At their funeral, the boys are made into martyrs against homophobia. Due to J.D.'s betrayal and strange behavior, Veronica breaks up with him, but he says he knows she'll come back. J.D. then shows Heather Duke old photographs of her and Martha Dunnstock (Carrie Lynn) when the two girl were friends. Since Martha is an obese and very unpopular student, Heather doesn't want the photos to be seen. J.D. says he will give her the negatives of the photos if she does him "a favor". J.D. then persuades Heather Duke to step into Heather Chandler's former role as clique leader and most popular girl in school. Heather Duke begins wearing a red scrunchie that had belonged to Chandler as a symbol of her new status. Once Heather Duke established herself in her role, J.D. tells her to start a petition to get the band Big Fun to play at the school pep rally. In return, he gives her the negatives of the photos. The fake suicides prompt an epidemic of similar attempts. Martha Dunnstock pins a suicide note to her chest and walks into traffic. She survives but is badly injured and is mocked for trying to "act popular", mostly by Heather Duke. That night, Heather McNamara calls a popular radio show while Veronica and Heather Duke are listening and says she feels like she is cursed, and begins to cry. The next day, Heather Duke tells the entire school about Heather McNamara's radio call. McNamara, humiliated, attempts to take her life by overdosing on pills in the girls' bathroom, but is rescued by Veronica; afterwards, the two become real friends. Veronica and Heather Duke have a fight in which Heather reveals that the petition was J.D.'s idea. J.D. then attempts to rekindle his romance with Veronica, but she rejects him, angering J.D. When Veronica returns home she finds that J.D. has left her threatening notes and objects implying that he will murder her and frame it as a suicide. That afternoon, Veronica has a vivid dream that J.D. murders Heather Duke, and at Heather's funeral Veronica talks to Heather Chandler. That night, J.D. climbs into Veronica's room with a revolver to kill her, but finds Veronica hanging from a noose. Thinking she's dead, he talks about his plan to blow up the school during a pep rally. He reveals that the petition he had been circulating via Heather Duke was actually a mass suicide note. Almost everyone except Veronica signed, so the mass murder would appear to outsiders to be a mass suicide instead. However, unbeknownst to J.D., Veronica faked the hanging by rigging herself with a harness around her waist. Now clued in to J.D.'s plot to blow up the entire student body, she confronts him in the boiler room below the gym where he is rigging timed explosives. After a brief struggle, Veronica shoots him three times. As J.D. collapses, he stabs the timer and it stops. Veronica walks outside to find the severely injured J.D. with the bomb strapped to his chest, which he detonates as a crying Veronica looks on with an unlit cigarette hanging from her lips. As the bomb explodes, J.D. is killed while the blast singes Veronica and lights her cigarette. As the students rush outside to find out what happened, Veronica confronts Heather Duke. Veronica relieves Heather of the red scrunchie, saying "Heather, my love, there's a new sheriff in town." Free at last of the Heathers' toxic influence, she invites Martha Dunnstock to hang out on prom night and watch movies with her. Cast *Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer *Christian Slater as Jason "J.D." Dean *Shannen Doherty as Heather Duke *Lisanne Falk as Heather McNamara *Kim Walker as Heather Chandler *Penelope Milford as Pauline Fleming *Glenn Shadix as Father Ripper *Lance Fenton as Kurt Kelly *Patrick Labyorteaux as Ram Sweeney *Carrie Lynn as Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock *Jeremy Applegate as Peter Dawson *Jon Matthews as Rodney *Phill Lewis as Dennis *Renée Estevez as Betty Finn *Jennifer Rhodes as Mrs. Sawyer *Bill Cort as Mr. Sawyer *Kirk Scott as Big Bud Dean *Mark Carlton as Mr. Kelly *John Ingle as Principal Gowan External links * Category:Films Category:1988 release Category:Comedy Films